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Lanternas
"In the meane time a Cannon was discharged from the Admirall of the gallies, which being the onset of the fight, was presently answered by the English Admirall with a Culuering; so the skirmish began, and grew hot and terrible, there was no powder nor shot spared..." — Phillip Jones, "True report of a worthy fight, performed in the voyage from Turkie, by fiue ships of London, against 11. Gallies, and two frigats of the King of Spaines, at Pantalarea within the Streights" (1586) Lantern Galleys are Imperial Age heavy ships. They require Absolutism at the senate. Although only marginally better as regards to armour, speed and hitpoints to the cog, the strength of the lantern galley ingame is in fact its armament. With its complement of long-bore, forward-facing guns known as sakers, the lantern galley has the strongest non-siege, non-suicide attack available to many ships. A fleet of lantern galleys bearing superguns is as fearsome as the cost required to maintain them — only nations with a strong degree of centralisation of power may arm and deploy such weapons of mass destruction, due to the need for a professional rower corps (and possibly impressment when rowers become costly). Lantern galleys are the favourite units of Sicilians and Andalusians, because of the lack of political penalty incurred in furnishing their super-light corsairs. Bear in mind that while lantern galleys may have powerful guns and are long enough to outstrip war cogs, they have one enemy. That enemy is the fire ship, and so a fleet of war galleys must always have barque-type vessels on its flanks to cover them. It is also to be noted that Carracks, while outranged by a lantern galley's firepower, have the benefit of enhanced armour and toughness as well as more accurate multiple guns, thus making the odds between carraks and lantern galleys somewhat more evenly matched. In such cases, the best technique for a lantern galley would be for it to fire its guns, and then move to make way for another rank of lantern galleys to open fire. Nevertheless, the firepower and of lantern galleys means that they are excellent at taking out castles - a sufficiently huge fleet will easily reduce a castle to rubble. Historically, although cogs were relatively mobile, the ongoing post-mediaeval arms race demanded more guns and more powder to load them, outstripping the capabilities of cogs. The lantern galley was thus a stopgap version for many nations until larger vessels such as frigates or galleons could be discovered. Even so, the galley's ability to move independent of the wind meant that it was guaranteed a very long shelf life, and even the introduction of larger and more spacious vessels such as carracks (which proved their worth over Indian and Egyptian galleys at Diu) didn't prevent the galley from distinguishing themselves at Lepanto in 1571 or at Gangut; Scandinavia, in 1714. Indeed, the last battle fought where galleys were brought out to face the foe was at the Siege of Copenhagen during the Napoleonic Wars. Unit summary *Super-heavy ship with very, very powerful attack and range but poor rate of fire, best siege ship in the game, but can serve in a naval engagement if properly escorted. *Although a lantern galley has the best range and most destructive firepower as regards to heavy ships, and is also the fastest, it suffers from poor constitution and attack speed issues. Deploy lantern galleys in waves, so that one group can cover the other, especially if facing carracks. *Fire Hazard — As with ships like cogs and roundships, the lantern galley is vulnerable to fire ships. *On Stranger Tides — Factions fronting the Yellow Sea and the Atlantic Ocean don't build lanternas units — Asians build a series of war junks, which are known for their exorbitant cost in timber, while European factions along the North Sea and Bay of Biscay instead build carracks, which are slower in movement but have better hitpoints. The difference between them and the lanternas however is rather marginal. *Starboard to Port — Portugal's carracks are comparable with lantern galleys, but exceed the latter as regards to speed and performance, and do not require Absolutism. Category:Heavy ships Category:Super ships Category:Quotations